The hope of the Messiah is one of the great themes of the Old Testament. God’s people were told that God would send a deliverer to rescue them and they were longing for this deliverer. When the New Testament opens, there had been the long period of four hundred years from the last word in the Old Testament, the so-called ‘silent years’, when it seemed that God was doing nothing. Yet still, hope was keeping the people of God going. Then, out of nowhere, it seemed, God sent angels to Zechariah and to Mary and spoke to Joseph in a dream, all telling them of the special children to be born. Zechariah, at the birth of John, his son, rejoices: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us  in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago.)’ (Luke 1:68-70).

Mary rejoices in the fulfilment of God’s promises: ‘He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.’ (Luke 1:54-55)

Simeon, when Jesus is presented at the temple, says, ‘For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”’ (Luke 2:30-32) All of these people were fully aware of God’s promises and rejoiced because they were able to see the fulfilment of these promises and participate in God’s great story and salvation. These people were all very different. Simeon, and Anna the prophetess, were very old. Zechariah was probably quite old: certainly, he and his wife, Elizabeth, were past the age when they could reasonably expect to have children. Mary and Joseph were younger, probably still teenagers. No matter what their age or circumstances, however, they were fuelled by hope and they had to walk by faith. They show us all that no matter what our age or circumstances, we too can be fuelled by hope and walk by faith.

Advent is a time of anticipation, as we look forward to remember the coming of the Christ child. In remembering that, however, we also look ahead to the rest of the story of salvation. We look ahead to Jesus growing in wisdom and stature, growing in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:52) We look ahead to His ministry of healing and teaching and preaching. We look ahead to His death: why else do we think about those gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at Christmas time? We look ahead to His resurrection. All these things are essential elements in the gospel story and many of our Christmas songs and carols keep this balance, not simply focussing on the birth of Jesus, but also what else He went on to do. And Advent, that time of coming, of arrival, always looks ahead too to the completion of the story, to the part which is not yet fulfilled: the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are still waiting for the ‘day of the Lord’ which will come like a thief in the night. (1 Thess 5:2) We are still waiting for the Lord to come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. (1 Thess 4:16) We are still waiting to be with the Lord forever, for that marriage feast with the Lamb. Paul urged the Thessalonians to encourage each other with these truths (1 Thess 4:18), and hope is the fuel that helps us to do that.